FAQ

Safari and Simba are Kiswahili words. Safari means ‘a journey’ and Simba is a ‘lion.’ The ‘Safari Simbaz’ therefore denotes the journey we wish our participants to take with a lion’s spirit – being courageous, strong, determined, disciplined and dedicated team players.

The Safari Simbaz currently caters for the needs of 40 participants on a daily basis. Many more children go to the educational centre on an ad hoc basis. Kinjah and his team also have an outreach programme in which they visit schools in nearby villages, giving motivational talks and inviting children to participate in the Safari Simbaz educational programmes.

Our kids learn mountain and road bike skills, bicycle mechanics and maintenance, fitness and conditioning. They are also exposed to Rift Valley Adventures that teaches the skills of being a bicycle safari guide and riding instructor.

For those with a particular talent for cycling and an aspiration to become a pro-cyclist, the opportunity is there to grow and develop into the calibre of cyclists equipped to join the U23 development team.

The U23 development team is run separately from the Safari Simbaz educational centre, which focuses on providing children with life skills and promotes amateur cycling.

The U23 development team draws talent from a number of cycling clubs, including the Kenya Riders. It is open to children who demonstrate a particular aptitude for the sport to move from the Safari Simbaz educational centre. The U23 development team incubates talent and acts as a feeder scheme to various African pro-cycling teams such as Qhubeka.

The U23 development team receives the valuable support of David Kinjah, who is passionate about the professional sport and has mentored elite cyclists. Chris Froome, three-time winner of the Tour de France, testifies to this as he spent many years with David Kinjah who nurtured his love for the bike.

We organised the event called the Kari challenge . We learned a lot about management and the importance of networking. Read more

Safari Simbaz: an organisation that teaches people to become independent and self sustaining. The media came to film us because they heard about our educational programmes which are giving kids tools that will enable them to sustain themselves in the future. Read more